My Teaching Resources - The Doc Cheng list

The last few days, since making my new YouTube channel more active, I've been getting more messages from people asking for what reference material I have available.

Admittedly, I'm THE WORST when it comes to remembering what I've done. I'm always looking forward to the next multimedia project that I need to prepare for, thinking of the next workshop I need to pack for, and constantly struggling to steal minutes here & there to better my own understanding of the material that I love (which is also what I teach).

So this morning, before spending some training time with Squealie & hopefully bolting out the door to steal some time learning from Martin Wheeler, I tried to put down the most complete list of training, rehab, & educational references that I've been part of to date. 

First on the list is Tai Cheng. 

This program, that I put together in cooperation with Beachbody, the producers of P90X & Insanity, is the first program in their catalog that emphasized quality of movement over quantity. Instead of a "Fit Test", Tai Cheng starts with a "Function Test". Throughout the entirety of the program, movements are taught in a very precise, step-by-step fashion, leaving nothing to guesswork. Even the footwork patterns are done on a grid, allowing you to double check at every step along the way.

Additionally, I also worked in 4 basic foam rolling progressions and many of the strength, flexibility, and breathing exercises that are part & parcel of old-school Tai Chi as I was taught by my father & other masters. 

Instead of trying to come up with my own style of Tai Chi, I wanted to break down the first section of the Yang style Tai Chi large frame long form in a manner that would be digestible to western audiences who were more attuned to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and Tabata protocols. So while Carl Daikeler wanted to name the program Tai Cheng with the Cheng referring to my last name (鄭), I named the program after one of the most important achievements (also Romanized as "Cheng", but written as 成) - health. 

Next up is the Kettlebells from the Ground Up DVD series 1 & 2, which was fathered by my mentor, Gray Cook. Gray & Brett Jones appear in the first DVD, while I authored the manual. Brett, Jeff O'Connor, & I appear in the second part of the series - The Advanced Progressions.

In these DVDs, we cover the Turkish Get-Up inside out, upside down, and from every possible angle that you can think of, dispelling some of the myths behind the exercise, and giving you the peelbacks that allow you to get more benefits out of the exercise with less risk.

I've also done the Kettlebell Warrior with DragonDoor. While this footage didn't hit the market until waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay after it was shot and some of the information in there was rather dated, it's still got some of my better teaching cues for the fundamental RKC/StrongFirst kettlebell lifts and shows the carryover for martial artist & combat sports.

Also, there was the Kettlebell Rehab presentation that Doug Nepodal & I did a few years ago for IDEA Health & Fitness Association at their Los Angeles convention. We took the two fundamental lifts of Pavel Tsatsouline's Program Minimum and taught them in great detail, tying in rehab principles along the way.

There are also a few podcasts that I've done for MovementLectures.com which are available for download. Some of those also feature my brother/colleague, Dr. Jimmy Yuan. Simply go to the MovementLectures.com site & type in Cheng in the search field to find some of the talks & podcast lectures that I've been honored to be part of.

I'm sure that I'm forgetting something, and hopefully folks who've recalled some other resources that I've been part of will chime in on the comments below. In the meantime, I hope this off-the-top-of-my-head list will steer you towards some material that will do you & your clientele/patients a world of good.